QUETTA, Sept 15: At least 21 people, including two women, were killed and 17 others injured in a head-on collision between Quetta-bound passenger coach and an oil tanker, near Surab, some 220km south of here, on Sunday.

The victims of the tragic incident also include four persons of a family on way to Quetta from Karachi. Fifteen people, including drivers of the coach and oil tanker, died on the spot.

The injured and dead were removed to the Civil Hospital Surab by the local administration with the help of local people. The doctors confirmed 15 deaths. However, six more injured, including a mother and her young daughter, succumbed to their injuries later.

Eight injured were shifted to the Civil Hospital Quetta.

CHQ sources said most of the victims received head injuries, resulting in the death of 15 on the spot. The injured admitted to the CHQ were shifted to the intensive care unit as their condition was stated to be serious.

Sources said the Quetta-bound Al-Makka Coach, carrying around 50 passengers, met the tragic accident at the RCD Highway in the morning when most of the passengers were asleep. An injured person told police that the eyes of the coach driver were shut when it collided with the oil tanker coming from the opposite direction.

Official sources confirmed 18 deaths. However, other sources asserted that at least 21 people were killed in the accident.

The 13 out of 21 killed were identified as tanker driver Munir Ahmed, his brother Abdul Wahid, Rashid Ahmed, Dost Mohammad, Ali Mohammad, Mohammad Farooq, coach driver Mohammad Younas, Bhadur Khan, Danish, Mohammad Murad, Abdul Qadir, Mohammad Mastana and Ghulam Qadir. The names of the mother and daughter killed in the accident could not be known.

The seriously injured shifted to the CHQ include: Mohammad Sadiq, Ghulam Haider, Mohammad Younas, Shert Dil, Nisar Mohammad, Fatima Bibi and Ashiq Ali.